As we close out Black History Month, we wanted to take Big Read Friday to share a few writers' thoughts on what it has meant to be African-American, and how their background has influenced their writing. Click on each author or poet's name for an in-depth interview. "You begin to love...

“Theater's there to challenge ideas and to question and it's a safe place to think differently because sometimes you don't get that space in time or place to really have that moment to reflect.”—Sherri Young When Sherri Young, executive director and founder of San...

In late January, author Dinaw Mengestu spoke at New York City's Bernie Wohl Center as part of the Goddard Riverside Community Center's Big Read kick-off event. We've excerpted a piece of a longer conversation with host Cary Barbor, where Mengestu delves into the importance of melancholy...

Everyone, it seems, is looking for love. Except for kids. They hate love. For most of them, it’s a cootie-covered contaminant, something to be avoided and vehemently denied. Interactions with the opposite sex are often limited to elongated ewwwwws, and the faintest blush at someone’s...